Foodborne disease is one of the most common health problems in world-wide. Foodborne pathogens can be found in various foods and causes various illness in humans. Foodborne diseases lead to morbidity and mortality in the few population and they have emerged as a growing public health and economic problem in many countries during the last 2 decades. In India there are no systematic studies to understand the types of foods involved and the etiological agent causing the disease. Food poisoning covers a wide range of food-borne diseases caused by an equally wide range of microorganisms. Most cases of food poisoning are infections caused by bacteria such as Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium species, Listeria monocytosis, Yersinia parahaemolyticus, Campylobacter, Shigella, Toxigenic E. coli, Bacillus cereus, Vibrio species, etc., or by some viruses and parasites. Less common but equally important from a food safety point of view is food poisoning as a result of intoxication. Intoxication results from ingesting pre-formed bacterial toxins in food. Live bacterial cells need not be present for food illness to develop. There is also a third type, intermediate food poisoning, caused by toxins produced during bacterial growth in the gut. Traditional methods can be time-consuming and difficult to perform. Rapid ELISA and RPLA-based methods are faster and simpler to use. Lateral flow immunoassay shows potential for detecting botulinum toxins. Techniques such as Polymerase chain reaction greatly affect the detecting of food-associated pathogenic bacteria and their toxin. This review paper highlights types of PCR techniques used to detect various pathogens and their toxins.